Minds in Formation

Conversations about how people actually live — family, work, tech, community, and the systems trying to run them. Recorded in Colorado Springs.

All Episodes

Minds in Formation

#22 The Human Grid

August 31, 2026 • Matthew Cowdin

0:00 | 1:02:36

What holds a life together when the clinic, the market, and the machine all want a vote? Postpartum depression, psychiatry, and brain chemistry. Healthcare and the COVID vaccine. Stocks, datacenters, energy, and the economics of Colorado Springs. Family, communes, character, self-defense, automation—and who actually ends up in control.

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Divergent thinking is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, nonlinear manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time and unexpected connections are drawn. Cheers. Thanks for coming out, dude. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So I was gonna start off the conversation with a fun fact I learned today.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I love like, you know, random fun facts, right? So what's it say, August 26th.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

So August 26th, 1920, something horrible happened. Do you have any idea what it might be?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

1920. So it's before the Great Depression. I'm I'm sure it's probably something stupid.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

They they passed the 19th Amendment.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Oh, for prohibition? Oh God, I'm terrible.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

History. American history, awful. Oh, I'm bad too. But like when they do those street interviews and they're like, do you know how many amendments they are or what they are? I'm like, oh, I would do bad at that.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

How do you spell that?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Addendum, huh? But uh the 19th Amendment is when women gain the right to vote. And it's been downhill ever since.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Oh, geez. You know, they've talked a lot about that recently, especially in sports, where they're really trying to advocate for women, and there are leagues that just don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Dude, they're yeah, I mean, they're not doing themselves any favors, bro. The WNBA is ridiculous. It's it's become a mockery. And dude, and even crazier, what's that lady, Lindsay Clancy, that is going, oh, she's on trial for murdering her three kids.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, that's rough.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

And you have all these dumb bitches, pardon my friend, French, that are not only like physically there, like at the courthouse protesting, but this online movement where they're like defending her essentially.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah, you know, my wife went through some pretty difficult postpartum recently, and I can definitely feel for that. I can't support murdering your kids, though. Like, that seems an extreme version of it. Now, obviously, it wasn't there during all three of those times. She sought medication. I'll be honest, I try not to look too closely at the story itself. Having a young one right now, like that stuff really kind of gets me. I get emotional about it. So I'm just like, scroll.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

It's the next one.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

It's just it's strange because I I agree, you know, we can, there's probably a broader conversation that can be had about postpartum depression, mental health, you know, access to these sorts of things. Our medical system is, you know, so-so when it comes to that. And it feels like the only thing that really happens is you just, you know, complain every week to a therapist and they just pump you full of medications. And I don't know how if that's helping or hurting, especially once you start stacking a bunch of SSRIs and Xanax and fucking Adderall and all this shit together, and you're probably driving yourself even more crazy at that point. But the mental health thing is crazy just in general, because it's used as like a scapegoat, right? You know, you let criminals essentially get away with things at time because they're mentally unstable. But still, you you do something terrible. You can't really be in normal society, point blank. Like, I'm sorry, if you were born with a condition to where your shit doesn't work right, you're schizophrenic, like that's tragedy. That sucks that you got to deal with that. Yeah. But if you are gonna go stab somebody while you're on the subway, you can't be in society, dude.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

100% agree. It's just it's a risk that we can't take.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

I know it.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I I have a pretty extensive background in that for the simple fact that my son suffered through some of those things, and I was with him every step of the way, all the different therapies, medication management, residential treatment. So I've seen the ins and outs of it, and it's it's pretty rough. I can support him through a lot of things. What I can't support is the resort to physical violence, criminal activities, things like that. Like I've told him over and over like, I love you, I support you, I'm here for you. I attend therapy sessions every single week with him, and I'm helping him grow from it. I'm helping him try to understand how he operates and talking to him about looking internally, right? And trying to understand what are your triggers, what are the things that maybe help with those things, and how can you learn and be your most successful self moving forward, knowing that like you have like a BPD diagnosis or bipolar or things like that. So it's it's very close to home, but I I definitely have told him over and over like it, you know, I can only support you so far. Like if you decide to go and do things that are beyond my control, I I can't help you with that.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

No, yeah, yeah, 100%. Did you feel like the the treatments were helpful?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

As far as therapy goes, treatments are only as helpful if you are willing to accept a treatment, right? Psychotherapy is all about being willing to open up and talk about things and maybe look at things from a different perspective or maybe even guide you in another direction because maybe psychotherapy isn't necessarily for you, right? But you have to be willing to participate in that. And where my son struggled for a long time was he didn't want to, or he didn't view that he needed therapy, nor did he want to talk to a stranger about the things that he was struggling with. So what ended up happening was my wife and I and my son would go to therapy, and it would end up being like me bullshitting with the therapist, or like my wife and I talking through marital problems, you know, like because he just he would just sit there and like we would try to get him to gauge as much as possible. And it was limited where he's at now. So he is in residential treatment, and I I do therapy over the phone with him once a week. I would say in this last year, he has seen the most growth that I've seen out of him. He's advocating for himself now. He's talking to the psychiatrist about what's working for him in terms of medication, right? And that's that's the tough part about medication management. I'm not the one taking the medicine. So I can't say, yes, it's working for me, or no, it's not working for me because I'm not taking it. All I can do is relay to the psychiatrist, hey, these are the symptoms that I'm seeing as he's taking these medications. So there's a lot of trial and error in that, especially for the youth, right? Because there are so many different signs and symptoms, right? Like things that could be considered maybe autistic, right? It's hard to diagnose. Things that could be bipolar or borderline personality disorder, like those, there's little subsex of symptoms that could also be something else, like anxiety and depression. So it's difficult for them to navigate that. But I think honestly, like I just had to stay with it with him. And, you know, he ended up going back to his mom's for a while, and that is what ultimately led to where he's at now. But it's, I don't know, it's tough. Yeah, yeah, super tough. Rambling.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

No, no, you're good, man. It's a it's it's wild because it is a bit of a a crapshoot with medication. I mean, it is a trial and error process, and and and that shit scares me a little bit too, because I've even tried some of it myself, yeah, at different times. And just for me personally, I have a really bad reaction to any of those types of medications that I've ever taken. You know, I've had my my dark periods in life, right? Sure. And so I'm like, okay, let me go talk to somebody and get prescribed an antidepressant. And I almost, no, not almost, every single time I get the the side effect may cause suicidal ideations, and it goes really bad. One time, this is probably 10 to 15 years ago at this point. I mean, I was close, close to the edge, you know, and I didn't really realize what was going on. I mean, I want I didn't want anything more than to just blow my fucking brains out, dude. Yeah, it's all I could think about. And then I stopped taking the medication and it settled down. And I was just like, oh, that was scary, bro. Like that kind of crept up out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, it's it's an unfortunate side effect from being in the military, too, right? Is we're exposed to a lot of those things that put us in that frame of mind as we transition away from them. I mean, I understand I was going through the same processes. I think my experience was a little bit different in that I didn't necessarily feel a lot of those side effects, but what I did have a problem with was eventually the amount of medication that they seemed to just try to dump on you. It just destroyed my stomach and my intestines. Like I did have to take another medication for that. So it's it's been a tough process to go through all that. And I've eventually just had to like wean myself away from a lot of those medications just to you know not destroy my body.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yeah, because I don't know how in depth the medical system is really paying attention to stacking all these things together, and how well is it understood? You know, A plus B plus C plus D, like what does that equation actually look like?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

And then to your internally, you're right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yeah, then you cause these other side effects that you have to take other medication for. And next thing you know, you got a whole medicine cabinet full of fucking orange bottles that you're taking every day.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I do. You're right. You know, I had a really good primary care while in the military, and she could only advocate for me for so long before she was like, Hey, I need to pass you off because this is starting to get into that unknown territory where I don't I don't have that kind of background in. And so I did eventually have to see like a psychiatrist myself just to work through those dosages. Yeah. So it was it was a lot. I mean, you know, I go in for like attention headache and some neck pain and you know, a sleep issue. And within six months, I had like seven medications that I was taking for nightmare, for sleep deprivation, for depression and anxiety, for pain, for anti-inflammation. I was like, I was just trying to like get this one little issue looked at.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

So I know it's a it's really wild, man. So at this point in my life, as much as I can, I try to just focus on taking nothing. I'm really into the idea of just regenerative medicine or just handling it through health as as much as possible. And I wish the medical system would operate a little bit more like that, because they're all the same, but I think it's even worse in the military. It's like a joke, right? You you go in, you talk to a doctor for two minutes, you walk out with a prescription.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

They're barely pan attention.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Take your ibuprofen, drink some water, and take a knee and pull security.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Like, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

It's a common joke for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

For sure. And it's true, dude. And it's just probably not a good idea to be playing whack-a-mole with fucking mysterious chemicals that are not fully understood. Because it really wasn't that long ago. Because I remember growing up, or back in the day at least, SSRIs were talked about as like you have a chemical imbalance in your brain. But then a few years ago, new studies come out and they're like, well, that's not exactly right. We actually don't fully understand what's going on. We kind of they they help sometimes, sometimes they don't, sometimes they make it worse, and they're like, eh, just try it, see what happens. Which is a wild move to be playing with someone's brain chemistry.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yeah, I it's I think that's like a very narrow part of our healthcare system. If you're looking at it long term, the US has a terrible healthcare system when it comes to that. I mean, we're consistently making these assumptions about stuff and we're trying to push it out to the masks because we think that's what it is. And then 10, 15 years down the road, they are seeing the long-term effects of you know those thought processes. And look at our vaccination system right now completely being revamped. We don't know. Is it good? Is it bad? Like we're seeing massive outbreaks of measles and things like that. So it's all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

It really is. And I hope that you know we don't come to find out that you know we're all gonna die of ass cancer because we were forced to get the COVID vaccine, but who knows, dude? It I don't know if I can't.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Get your colomoscopies early.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Yeah, for sure. And this was this was kind of a a one-off. So I I I won't say like blanket the COVID you know 19 vaccine was fucking everybody up, but it did fuck up my niece. I don't know what the condition is. I I would have to look it up, but it has something to do with the way the brain works and it caused brain inflammation. And at this point, you know, it's like such a tragedy, right? Because the system is telling you, you oh, you have to get this, you know, you're you're gonna kill grandma if you don't get this, whatever. So, you know, that was being pushed on onto everyone. So she goes and gets her first shot, and she's like 18-year-old girl, she's got a whole her whole life ahead of her, right? 18-year-old girl gets her first shot and kind of fucks her up. They don't really know what's going on, think maybe she's sick or just had a weird reaction, or maybe even didn't put two and two together, just thought it was something random. Being like, oh, what's up with her? You know, I don't know, she'll be all right. A little bit of time goes by. She gets the second shot and within a day or two, brain swelling, like hemorrhaging, fucking tons of inflammation. And now, you know, she's like 19 or 20 or or whatever, and she's like as capable as like a six-year-old, and no real idea of that'll ever clear up.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Well, they created that vaccine with such a short time frame, no way to test the long-term effects, and like these companies had blanket immunity for hey, sorry, we don't we don't know. We we we were told to make this now, so this is the best we could do. And yeah, we're seeing it. It's crazy, man. We're all a bunch of fucking lab rats, dude. Lab rats for cash.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yeah, I made some money on those stocks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah, it wasn't Moderna, it was popping off just there was there was another one, NVAX that went from like nothing to a couple hundred dollars a share in a short time frame, and then it was gone again.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Yeah. Hey, I'm here for it, man. I'm a I'm a profiteer.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah, how is your SpaceX doing, by the way?

SPEAKER_02 16:14

It's kind it's kind of flat. So I bought in at the IPO. Yeah, you know, it had that initial surge, spiked up, and then it dropped back down. So I'm just buying dips. Slowly pump it in, yeah. Yeah, just keep buying dips. That's basically the main thing I'm focusing run on right now. Accumulating more SpaceX, hold that for long term. But ideally, I want to start shifting things over to just ETFs that I can kind of set and forget. Yeah, get that dividend every quarter or monthly, whatever it is. Totally. Plus just stabilize things because my shit's pretty volatile, you know. It's real tech heavy. I'm like deep in like Tesla, SpaceX, NVIDIA, you know, all these different companies, which is great. And some of them have worked out really well, but it's also all over the place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah. I've seen that as of late. The the tech stocks have been very volatile, and I want to play more into it. I just don't have the time to invest in day trading.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Yeah. So I'm trying to see what I can lever or how I can leverage AI systems to kind of just help out with. Okay. I'm not having it actually go do anything. I'm not like downloading an agent and having it like perform any actions, but just automated reports. Sure. So like every day, like give me, you know, a couple of tickers that are primed and ready to pop off, you know, or like just give me a rundown on these companies or whatever. So it's kind of sending these reports to me. So I may start playing with it a little bit more, being a little more active in that. But again, with the ultimate goal of like, let's make a little bit more money and then let's just throw it in the SP 500 so I can just not worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yeah. I mean, I've seen some reports lately about AI is doing above average on the market. So I mean, that seems like the way to go.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah. I mean, because they're they're gonna just be able to analyze and ingest and then deliver that information way faster than you can. Because same, I don't have time to sit there and look at charts all day and read earnings reports. I just it's too much.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Got a busy work schedule?

SPEAKER_02 18:23

I mean, it's not bad.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

How's that going, by the way?

SPEAKER_02 18:27

It's good, man. Like right now, it's still been pretty chill, but I think it's gonna start picking up. You know, it's becoming more and more. People are asking about it, wanting to integrate into different systems. Which I'm here for because I'm not averse to getting after it. Yeah, I have no problems with that. I'm I just don't like wasting time. So I'm like, let's do let's do a thing. Like, tell me what we gotta do, let's do a thing, and then you know, let's work hard, play hard, right? Let's fucking knock it out and then let's go hit a happy hour.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Love that.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

But don't ask me to just like sit around and wait for somebody to walk by and ask for something.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

I'm a strong advocate for 1615. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Totally. Yeah, man. But speaking of that shit, why do you think everybody is so upset or worried about the data center thing? Like there's been data centers all over the place forever, but now that we want to build more AI data centers, people seem to be really concerned about that. And I don't fully understand why people are like, oh no, you can never put a data center here.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I think it has to do with the resource consumption, electricity, like electricity, water, cooling, things like that. It's pretty significant when it comes to having to maintain those temperatures. That that farm, right? Essentially, that's what it is. It's farm-sized infrastructure, and it's producing quite a bit of heat. So it in order to maintain that cooler temperature, it absorbs a lot of resources.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

So but I don't think they're just like constantly consuming water. I mean, even you have a liquid-cooled computer, it's a closed system, you know, it's just well, like cold water in, hot water out.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Well, think about okay, so let me give you a for instance. In our last military unit together, there was a pretty significant data center issue.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah, it was overheating all the time.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

It was overheating all the time. And when they had built that data center in the 90s, it wasn't designed for the amount of enclaves that they had set up down there in its current capacity. So unfortunately, when it's not constructed properly and you don't have a good ventilation system, you don't have a good HVAC system, then those kind of systems come or those kind of issues come into play where you were seeing like it was shutting down all the time and things like that. So it's kind of like that, I think of that, but on a grander scale, right? The amount of resources that it takes to keep that thing cool, because it's got to be in the you know 70, 75 degree Fahrenheit temperature range, which is not significant if you're like a normal household, but if you're a data center where you've got thousands and thousands of servers running, like that's a lot of heat that's pumping out of there. So yeah, big time. It's it's pretty significant. And I get it. I mean, Colorado's already strapped for water and things like that, so it doesn't make sense to put a ginormous data center right here in the springs. Because that's what they were looking at doing, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah, they were gonna put one over by Garden of the Gods, but it's not a new build. There used to be an IBM factory there or something, or it might have been a small channel. Factory, something like that. Sure. It was an IBM thing. So they're just going to refit the building and use what's already there. And I guess my thought on it, because I I totally get it, with there being some concerns. And you know, maybe it's a larger conversation with just like energy in general and the fact that we completely demonized nuclear and took all those plants offline. But now there's like conversations of making like micronukes basically for these data centers. And that would probably create additional energy that you can put back on the grid. So if it was me, I'd be like, okay, I hear your concerns. We're going to have our own reactor. Again, closed loop water system. So initially it's going to bring in a bunch of water, but then it's not continuously. It's just got a cooling system or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Again, like close-off radiation system type exactly. Radiator system, I should say.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Cold water on one side, hot water on the other, and it's just doing its thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Possibly, but I I look at Colorado Springs in general, and I see how much we've invested in solar in this area. I mean, obviously we get like 300 days of sunlight. So that's quite a bit of energy being put back into the infrastructure. I'm curious then why are our utility bills still skyrocketing? Yeah. I I'm not really sure about that whole process. And I, you know, I'm uneducated when it comes to speaking more in depth about that. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Yeah, I don't I don't know the full extent of it either. And maybe I'm just like a little pessimistic. I just the powers that be, I just think they're always trying to fuck celebrate, you know. Like, you know, at the end of the game, it's all about money, and that's the only thing that fucking matters. And and so not saying this is the only thing that caused the recent hike, but they auth authorized the CEO or whatever of Colorado Springs utility to get this like super fat raise. And that guy's making like $800,000 a year or something.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Makes sense, right? Take a bunch of money and give it to the one guy that doesn't really do any work.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Yeah, the guy that doesn't do anything. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like fucking, that's a great system that we have here. And I've always just said that, and it ties into kind of everything that we're talking about, whether it's energy infrastructure or medicine or whatever. Again, the the powers, they, whoever they are, they don't have the people's best interests in mind. It's just not the way it works here, you know. And I'm not trying to like be like, oh, it fucking sucks because like America's awesome, and we compare it to the alternatives. Fuck yeah, dude, this place rocks, man. But it could be so much better if you could kind of tamp down that personal selfishness and greed a little bit and think about the collective just a little.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

That kind of sounds like communism. I mean, look, there are pros and cons to capitalism and communism and things like that. So that's what you're facing when it comes to capitalism is that negative side of you know making money and greed and power to the 1%.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Yeah. So yeah, and I don't know what the solution is because I'm definitely a capitalist, and I think it's it's great. It creates entrepreneurs and opportunity and gives people motivation to get their shit together and go and achieve something, right? It's a it's a great system. It just needs maybe a little bit of a guardrail to where you you can't be like, okay, I'm maximizing profits.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Now you're starting to sound like a Democrat. It's funny how quickly you can go right down the rabbit hole to you know one side or the other.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Oh no, it's stupid. Even those words don't even mean anything because they constantly shift.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

I I mean, yeah, yeah, it is what you want it to be since we're circling all the way back to women's rights and the WBMBA, and it's whatever you want it to be, right? Yeah. So I think we have a friend in common who thinks you know the whole commune thing would be most beneficial, especially as we're approaching that apocalyptic time.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

I know it you definitely hear those conversations pop up. People just want to run to the woods, like cut off the internet.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

I mean, you know, this past year those kind of conversations really like took me down that rabbit hole. And uh there was a a small amount of time where my wife was like, What what are you doing? What are you planning for? Like, why why are we looking at property out in the middle of nowhere and you looking at cacheting a bunch of things? And why are you buying resources on the side to like store up? Like, what are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02 26:59

That's what every GB does when they're retiring. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Well, I feel like those conversations at work kind of really made us, or not made us, made me start to really overanalyze it and be like, uh, well, because you know, the whole stuff was popping off in Mexico and Venezuela, and then now there was this talk of like I ran stuff, and I was like, oh man, the end of the world is coming.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

I know. Repent, repent. I know. Hey, I'm ready for it. If Jesus wants to come back, I mean I'll welcome him with open arms, man. I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

I'm a sinner.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Nah, you'd be all right. You're a good guy. But I mean, in a way though, the commune thing sounds very attractive. And I don't even mean from an extent that like society is collapsing and we have to go escape and get away. I just mean like, you know, if you are checking the blocks of what a the hierarchy of needs, what's that guy's name? I forget who who said it. It's like you need food, water, shelter, community, you know, all these different things. Jesus. I don't know. No, it's a there's a dude. It's like a philosopher. I just the name escapes me. Okay. But anyways, point being, I think people operate the best when they feel like they're a part of a close-knit community, a tribe, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

It's human nature, though.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

A hundred percent. And people are very isolated these days in many ways. It's like you're super connected online, but in your face-to-face, like actual no shit life, you're like, Yeah, you know, I like wave to the neighbor, but I like barely talk to anybody, you know. And there's a lot of people out there that are like that.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

It's I feel like it's a US issue.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

You look at society in the United States, we're very siloed. Like, mom lives here, dad lives there, brother here, sister there. Like everyone's in their own house, right? But you go to these other countries and you've got two or three generations living in the same house. Children are co-sleeping with parents, right? Like it's a takes a community or tribe to raise a child, and we're the opposite of that, yeah. Right. A lot of experts are trying to push like sleep training on kids, right? But biology has said otherwise for thousands of years, right? Like when you were living in a cave and you were trying to survive, you weren't putting your newborn around the corner in the you know, in the back crevice there so that it could learn to sleep on its own, right? Right. That's something new that we've created in the last 10-15 years. So it's an unfortunate aspect that we're seeing the long-term effects of that. And that kind of circles back to like the whole mental health issue, right? Like my wife has talked about how you know she was sleep trained as a kid, and now she has anxiety about like struggling to go to sleep, and like those things like keep her awake longer now, right? And like what we've seen the long-term effects of sleep deprivation. Oh, yeah. Anxiety, depression, dementia, Alzheimer's, right? Like, we're seeing all those things as well. So a lot of that stuff is just a real full circle type event.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah, it really is. Like, we have a very individualistic society, you know, it's all about the the single unit, and the family is not celebrated as much. I mean, maybe the nuclear family to a degree, depending on who you're talking to, but anything past that, it's like, eh, yeah, shove the grandparents in an old folks home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

I was talking to these one folks, and it made me kind of go down my own little rabbit hole that I appreciated. I met a couple, they had a brand new baby, and the baby was just in the sling, like all the time, attached to their body in the sling all the time. And I was talking to the dad, he was actually the one rocking the sling most of the time. And we were having this conversation that I thought was really great. He's like, you know, this whole idea that you let your kids cry it out, or put them in the bassinet in the other room and close the door and ignore them. Like, imagine being that baby that doesn't know what the fuck's going on and you're terrified and you think you're alone and you're freaking the fuck out. Meanwhile, you know, your parents are turning up the music and be like, oh yeah, we're working on it. We're helping them to become independent, which is insane, dude. Like, why the fuck are you trying to make a baby independent, dude? Baby needs to be next to you pretty much all the time.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

The baby doesn't learn that. What the baby understands at that point is I can't rely on you as your my parent to be there in my time of need. Yeah. Yeah, it's absolutely terrible. I mean, I've I've seen that in and out so much that you know that's why we have such a a huge issue with mental health disorders, right? Like the studies show that if you don't if you're not paying attention to your child in the first few years, like the long-term effects of that are are pretty significant. So I mean, I'm going through that now. I have a nine-month-old and she's with us all the time. She sleeps with us. Like it's okay, it's rough, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Yeah, it sucks sometimes. It sucks.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

My wife and I share those responsibilities, and you know, she she is elected to stay home to raise our child because childcare is not going to be able to provide for a newborn or an infant, you know, during this time. So she gave up her career to to stay home with our daughter. And we're playing the long game here. And, you know, at night, she takes the first half, and then we switch at like two, three o'clock in the morning, and I take the second half. I don't get a lot of good sleep. I don't think I've had more than five hours of solid sleep in nine months. I'm exhausted, especially at 43. Yeah. But we're hoping that in the long term, like it's gonna be beneficial for our daughter.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

So yeah, you're giving her trying to give her the best chance possible. Everything.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

And that's something that I've thought a lot about, you know, because we're we're we're very similar. Like we had kids young and kind of rushed into it. Now we got older teenagers, and you know, you already have a baby. I'm trying to have a baby, hopefully here pretty soon. But man, there's gonna be so many things that I do different because before I was like stressed the fuck out, like a young soldier. Both me and the boys' moms were both active duty, so the kids fucking are in daycare all the time. You know, we're not even raising our own children. Yeah, we're exhausted all the time, we're poor, we can't fucking do anything the right way. We're just trying to keep our heads above water.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Private Tim was not bringing in a lot and a single family income home.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

No, no, yeah. So now it's like this is gonna be a different ball game. And I kind of joke around, but I'm also also serious at the same time. I'm gonna try to do everything I can to give this new life like the best possible chance. And even though it sounds stupid, I'm like joking around with Jessica about it. I'm like, we're gonna try to create the perfect person, which is obviously ridiculous and impossible.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

I look, I've got a genius baby at home, and that's because we have paid attention to her for nine months. Like, we try real hard not to be on our phones, like we try very hard not to have TV as an integrated part of our lives. Like, yeah, we're doing everything we can to just be present in the moment. And I'm already seeing the results of that. I mean, she's she has like eight or ten words that she's saying, like, we're working on trying to walk with her and seeing her overcome some of her, she's got a limb difference, so she's already a little bit behind the curve on on some things. So we've been working with occupational therapy to try to get ahead of those things before you know they come a lasting issue. So, but that amount of dedication and detail that you're putting into your child is going to pay dividends for sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Yeah, it's it's an absolute game changer. And of course, there's those outliers, you know, and I love to hear them, the success success stories of people that were didn't have that, that had the opposite of that, but then overcame everything and figured it out and became this like amazing person, which is kind of a funny conversation as well, because I think it's kind of understood that a certain amount of adversity and struggle is very character-building, right? And it does a lot that like you see the benefits later, even though it sucks while you're there, you get a lot of benefit later on down the road. You're never gonna force that onto your child. But, you know, what's the best way to kind of mimic that, like mimic some of that character? So, like for us, we're thinking, you know, like we want them to be really into sports, really into working out or whatever, you know, and just overcoming challenges just in a different way. Like, yeah, you're not gonna have to worry about eating or like having your parents like freaking out, fighting or being violent or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Drug abuse or alcohol, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Yeah, nothing like that. But instead, like as soon as you're eligible, like we're gonna get your ass in jujitsu, you know, we're gonna be on the fucking incline.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Look, it's all about letting them fall and then teaching them how to get back up, right? Because that's the only way you're gonna overcome adversity, whatever it is. Everyone's got their own thing that they've got going on. You've got to be able to let them fall. You you can't be a helicopter parent who's got them in a bubble and they can't do this. It it has long-term effects that you don't want, so you gotta let them fall. Yeah, and you just gently pick them back up, you dust them off, and you're like, hey, that sucked, didn't it? Okay. Well, how do we prevent that next time? You know, how do we overcome this? Right? That's that's the best way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Having a girl is scary though, just in general, because we want to have a daughter, but I just think ahead and I'm like already scared at just the thought of it. I'm like, yikes, the world is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Yep. I have since my daughter's been in the womb, I told her it's absolutely okay if she is not into boys. Yeah, yeah. I know nothing wrong with that, okay?

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Yeah, yeah. Or like support you, be a lesbian until you turn 25 and then cross over.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Well, I've also said if she's into boys, that's also fine. She just can't date until she moves out of the house. Because I I don't want to have to strangle some 16-year-old boy. I know it. That's gonna be rough.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

I know it's crazy, but that's that's why I go back to like not to be paranoid, but like if we have a girl, she's gonna learn BJJ, yeah, she's gonna be at the range, she's gonna be very capable and competent and secure in herself, know how to take care of herself, at least to a certain degree, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Love and support that, yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, as soon as she can wrap her hands around it, we're gonna be fucking blasting at the range.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

I like it. I'm all about that. I want the same for my daughter. I mean, as soon as she can start rolling, that's where she'll be, is in the gym.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Yeah. I I looked it up. So my boy goes to Horace Gracie down the road.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Or no, Gracie Barra. Horace Gracie is a guy that did BJJ back in the day. But Gracie Barra. And it's funny the kind of cycles we went through, because I was always pushing him to be involved in something, right? You need a sport, you need something. You're not just going to go to school and do the bare minimum and then play video games all night. Like, we can't have that be a thing. You gotta earn it, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Through whatever endeavor, you know, I and I didn't want to be the guy that decided what he was gonna do. I wanted him to pick it. So he picked wrestling initially.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Started when he was like sixth grade, I think, something like that. Did a season and it was kind of like, uh, I don't know. And I was like, well, you need to keep it up. So during off season, we're gonna do BJJ. And he fought me on it for a couple of years, like kind of being into it, kind of not, kind of bullshitting or whatever. But at some point, maybe around his like freshman year, it just like clicked, and he's like, Oh, I'm into it. I like it. And now, you know, he still is doing BJJ, and he's fucking nasty, dude. He weighs like 125 pounds. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

And I got a spinners, dude.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Like, he'll get me sometimes. We'll go fuck around and wrestle a little bit, and he's just so fast. Obviously, like I got him on like strength, and you know, I just weigh more than him, but we'll just be kind of sitting there pushing each other back and forth, and before I know it, he's behind me.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Get out of there. Because he'll just be like, Yeah, I I learned a very valuable lesson pretty early on in my BJJ training was that it's not about your weight or your strength, it's about your technique. And totally, I at the time I was just starting out and I was probably I don't know, 190, 200 pounds. And the blue belt I was with, he was working with me. He was, I don't know, 135, 140, and he was like, Let's go, let me go for it. And I I was putting everything into this guy, and he just waited and he waited and he waited, and then he would wrap me up and I'd be tapping after you know two, three minutes, and I'm like, I don't understand. And he's like, It's not about your strength, man. You're not gonna win at that.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Nope, there's very little uh in that world that you can muscle through. I mean, it if you're equal technique, yeah, that's gonna help it. Help you out in the house. Yeah, big time. But no, if somebody knows what they're doing, they're gonna turn you into a pretzel, and you're gonna be helpless.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Yeah, I've got I've got two brothers who wear black belts, and I I don't like to fuck around with them.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

So yeah. So runs in the family, huh?

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Yeah, it does, but I I'm like, all right, well, I'm just gonna bring a gun to this this fight. So I don't have to worry about it because I'm not gonna roll with you.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Are you a carry guy? Like, are you like into it packing all the time or not?

SPEAKER_00 41:35

I I do like to carry just for my own peace of mind, but it's usually like a 380. It's pretty small, like very compact, very secluded on my body. It's not all the time. It's if I feel like I'm going to an area that maybe is not the most safe, you know, then I will. But I don't, I'm not like rolling to the gym with it in my hip or in my backpack or anything like that. So yeah, just kind of pick and choose, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

I'm kind of the same way. I have all my permits and everything, but really for me, if anything, it's more for like when I'm in the woods and I just have it in my console, my truck, or something like that. Uh I also have a full size 45, so it's not really a good carry pistol. I need to, I need to get a smaller one.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

But you know, going back to the baby thing, I I want Jessica to start training up and for her to be able to take care of herself. She can shoot a gun and and whatnot, but she's not trained, right? So she needs to be be trained a little bit more. So I want to be working on that because we have all these trails here in our neighborhood. And you know, you see the neighborhood, it's like it's fine, it's all right, but it's an older neighborhood, and there are a couple little patches where we just get some bums and shit that hang out. For the most part, they're harmless.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

But there's just that one-off chance where you never know.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

You're vulnerable when you have a child.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

It's 100%. Yeah, it's scary. Somebody could see that as a opportunity, or you just never know when somebody's cracked out enough that they're just gonna wig out and do something weird.

unknown 43:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

And I don't want to get that phone call, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Yeah, I I've tried to work with my wife a lot about situational awareness and keeping your head on a swivel, knowing what's around you, right? Not putting yourself in a position where that's something that could potentially happen. Obviously, like things still happen, anyways, right? So being prepared for that. But you know, I I tried I tried to run my wife through like an impromptu situation, and my wife wasn't having it. She had zero interest in reacting to context.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

Yeah. She was like, Whatever, dude. Shut up.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

She was like, No, I'm not doing this before bed. This gives me too much anxiety. I'm like, well, what happens if something happens here? And try to. Pitch a scenario real quick and she wasn't about about participating. And I'm like, well, fuck.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Okay. Whatever. I guess I'll go fuck myself on. Yeah. I guess I'll be the one doing it. Yeah. The one good thing with with my wife is she's not a small lady. She's six one. Yeah. A crossfetter, super good volleyball player, athletic as hell.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Yeah, she looks like she could kick your ass.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Yeah, you know. And mine. I I gotta watch out for it when we're wrestling. Yeah. So, you know, I I'll get her most of the times, right? But every once in a while, she'll get a leg underneath me in just the right position.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

One time hip toss you.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Bro, it was like a fucking cartoon, bro.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Judo. Throw ya.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Yeah, dude. We're wrestling, we're fucking around, and she just happened to get both of her feet underneath my hips as I'm on top of her. And she just went, yeah. And I swear I flew across the bedroom. Like she's strong as shit. She's like deadlifting and squatting every day.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Matt, please. I don't want to hear about you guys' sexual endeavors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Yeah, she beats me up and blasts me. I'm into it though.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

I mean, I get it. Yeah, tweach their own, right? Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

Absolutely. But yeah, it's it's wild out there. But it's really not. I always try to circle back to that and I say it all the time. I'm like, if you spend a lot of time on social media, or you know, you can give yourself a fucking panic attack by worrying about the state of the world. Or you can put your phone phone down, walk outside, wave to the neighbors, start a conversation, and it's like fine. It's a community. Basically, all the time. Like I've literally never had a problem out in the world in Colorado Springs. Not even close. Not even anything remotely close to close. But you know, you get on your phone, you start doom scrolling, and you're like, oh, all this shit's going on. There's war everywhere. There's, you know, criminal fucking migrants that are taking over and raping everybody and killing everybody and giving everyone fentanyl. You're like, okay, yeah, that that is a thing, but I can't be obsessed with the problems of the world.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Yeah, it's kind of like having horse blinders on. And I said the same thing to, you know, my mom, right? She used to watch the news religiously and just freaking scroll. Yeah, and she was always in a bad mood. And I was like, mom, you gotta cut that negativity out of your life. I try to stay away from social media. She's always like, Oh, do you see your ex-wife what she's posting on Facebook? And I'm like, No, mom, I don't look at that. Like, stop looking at those things. I don't care. That was like 15 years ago. I don't care what she's doing on her Facebook. So yeah, it's it's pretty toxic, and I I just I don't have a lot of time for that. Yeah. Right. And I don't, you know, the the limited time that I have, I don't want to fill it with negativity. Yeah. It's just life's too short, and got better things to worry about.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Yeah, a hundred percent, man. It's completely unnecessary. And there's nothing you can do about it, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

If you want to sit here and you can go have a protest and hold your sign and say stop the war in Iran, and like whatever, or whatever situation it is. And I I get it, right? I mean, you believe in that, you go go on with your bad self, right? Yep. It's not gonna change anything, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

So some people feel like they need to inject themselves into that because that's what they believe in. Um right, everyone has a belief system and more power to you, go for it. It's just not something that I want. I I'm good with a cabin in the woods. The the biggest worry is like, hey, did the you know, the tomatoes get ruined, right? Because we didn't water them enough, or I'd rather just live that way.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

Yeah. Something that I can control. Something about simplicity. I've even said, you know, the the this idea that AI is gonna do everything for us and robots gonna do even the physical side of it or whatever, whether that's realized or not, fucking I don't really care. But if it was, I'm like, at that point in time, homesteading is like the way to go with some homies, ideally. And it circles back to the commune. You know, like create your community, get back to the basics, and don't worry about the rest, dude.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

I have a question for you then.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

What's up?

SPEAKER_00 48:38

What do you think about Elon Musk's excerpt about 10, 15 years from now, where like we wouldn't even need to worry about retirement funds because resources are gonna be in abundance due to AI's implementation?

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yeah. It's an interesting idea, and it's possible. So I I feel like I can see a future where that is realistic if these these things do scale. Like AI is already pretty powerful, it can do a lot, so you don't need to create Excel sheets and PowerPoints, and you don't need to go out and even do research the same way that you need you used to have to. Like it's already streamlined so many things, and that's just gonna keep getting more and more powerful. And then, you know, you slap those those same trained models into a physical robot that can do everything. Okay, great. You know, like we get to a point where money doesn't matter, but the like pessimistic side of me thinks that again, going back to they, the powers that be, I don't think they want a level playing field that would be bad for the powers that be. So they're going to fight that. I think that's not in their best interest because those people want to maintain power and control. Sure. So they don't want a level playing field where everyone has this abundance, you know, and can do whatever they want. So it's hard for me to know or or to envision how that actually realistically happens because it would take a massive swing in how things work in general. You know, we're rack and stacking ourselves, and you got the big guys and the guys on the bottom, and and some people like it that way, right? Because they're in their little cushy spot. So I don't know. I I didn't I didn't really answer you, but it's hard. It's so hard to envision. I mean, it sounds great, right? If everything's taken care of, and then you can just focus on learning how to play guitar and writing poetry and spending time with your family or whatever the whatever the fuck you want to do, right? Sure. It sounds great. You can just be creative and go learn whatever skill you want to learn and you know, hang out with your friends and family. Sounds awesome, but there's like a lot of things that would have to happen between here and there to actually get that realized.

SPEAKER_00 51:04

Yeah, I I don't think we as a society could handle that.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

Yeah. I mean, what's gonna stop everyone from just being raging alcoholics and drug addicts and it just all collapses?

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly it. I mean, it kind of reminds me of do you ever see the movie Wally? Mm-hmm, where everyone's just in a ship and they're all laying on this floating bed as it's floating recliner, fucking swirpy stuff. Yeah, everyone's like grossly overweight, and they have they're not even walking, they could barely even walk when the ship kind of had an issue and they were forced to put their feet on the ground. It was ridiculous. So I I I hear what he's saying and I think about those things, and I'm like, that we we I don't think we could survive like that.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

Yeah. At least not the without a purpose, right?

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Right? Because everything about civilization has been about gathering resources. So if we make it to a point where we don't need to worry about resources, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_02 52:08

It's difficult, it's a very difficult question to answer. Because even for myself, I sometimes struggle with the concepts of purpose and meaning a little bit. You know, I had a great career and everything, that was awesome. But then there are those times where you just kind of feel like you're going through the motions, and and that's part of the reason why I signed up to like have more children, even though some people are like, that's fucking crazy. But that's like it's crazy. It is crazy. I know I know it's a little crazy, but it gives you an unequivocal, like undeniable purpose, right? Like you must ensure that this baby is safe and healthy and is given the best opportunity, like all the things that we were talking about. You don't have to question, like, what should I be doing? It's right there in front of you. That's what you should be doing. And when you don't have those things, you know, whether it's career, family, whatever, some personal endeavor, life looks kind of bleak.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

Yeah, that's why I've been very adamant about trying to push people to have kids. Yeah. We have our our friend Jake who was uh dual income with no kids, right? Like, yeah, I like you guys should have kids. And he's like, ah, that sounds dumb.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

Yeah. I I'm the same way. I always recommend it. You know, I'm trying to like overstep or anything, but I'm like, I hear people, I just met this dude the other day, and they're like, nah, we're doing the whole dink thing, you know. We don't ever want to have kids, we just have our dog. And I'm like, I mean, should have kids. Sure. Look, but you're missing out a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

I'm more of a like misery loves company kind of thing. Look, if I'm gonna be sleep deprived, I also want to be able to bitch about it with you. You know what I mean? Misery loves company, you know. Speaking of that, can you pass me another please? Yeah, gotta get them in before you know, gotta go back to my fatherly duties. I know. I'm gonna get back on the clock. I'm very limited here on my time away. Yeah, yeah, I bet mama's like, yeah, the one and a half hour mark's coming up. Where the fuck are you?

SPEAKER_02 54:10

Yeah, do you guys share locations? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 54:14

She's just watching it and be like, you're not moving. Yeah, I don't have a problem with sharing my locations. Not like I have anywhere to hide where I'm at.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

So yeah, yeah. Same me and my family, we all do it.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Yeah. Actually, my my wife is funny because like I'll track her for the purpose. Like, I like to like when she I know she's coming home. I'll go out on the garage and be there when she comes in so that I can help, you know, get the baby in the house and help all that like transition in. She loves that. So she's always real excited when I'm like, I was tracking you. And she's like, Oh, that's great. So she loves it. And I I'm absolutely fine with it. Doesn't I don't really care, it doesn't bother me.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm the same way. My my wife does the same thing. Like the other day, I actually had to work a full day, you know, and then she like sends me a screenshot of my my location still being at work, and she's like, What the hell, dude?

SPEAKER_00 55:08

I've done that many times where I pull up the map and it's like my dot and her dot, and I'll draw like a big circle around it with like a frowny face in there because of the distance. So, yeah, we've we've done that quite a few times.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

So going back to your question, what do you think about the whole Elon thing? Money's not gonna matter, we're gonna be in an age of abundance, and robots are gonna do everything.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

I look, I don't think that's the case. I think we're starting to see a significant shift back to homesteading, trade work, right? Like those are the people who are making the most money now, right? A mechanic, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, right? Those are things that generations before us could do because they've done it, right? You had to just fix things, you couldn't pay someone to fix it. So I see those professions as making a lot more money. And yes, maybe AI is automating and and handling a lot of things, but there's just so much that it can't do. So I don't think we're anywhere near that point. Yeah. I don't feel like this is 2015 flying cars saying like back to the future. So we're we're still a long ways off from full automation, but I don't know where it's going.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

Yeah. It's so tough to predict. But I've often often thought that they there could become a time because they're already doing like AI music and you can do like videos or whatever. Okay, cool story. But as things progress, almost like the way that you go to a grocery store and there's like an organic sticker on it, I think there'll be products that'll be promoted and it'll be more expensive or more valued because it'll be like man-made. Yeah, like this is like human-made, and it'll almost be like a disclaimer. You'd be like, okay, that actually came from somebody.

SPEAKER_00 57:04

Yeah, it's possible. I uh I have a huge problem with the way we handle and process food in this country. Oh, big time. It's it's pretty pretty sad compared to other countries. So I love America. We do a lot of things right, we also do a lot of things wrong. And the way we handle food is not the greatest. No. It's all about, again, consumerism, capitalism, big business trying to pump things out, and it's made things cheaper, but it's made things worse at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

So yeah, it's it's unfortunate that you have to do a bunch of research just to go to the grocery store to find out, you know, out of these fucking ridiculous lists of ingredients, which for the most part, anything that's like that should probably be avoided. Yeah. You're like, okay, that one's poison, that one's poison, that one's poison. Processed foods, it's killing America. I know, dude. It's unfortunate. And, you know, like maybe me and you, we can do our due diligence and try to like make the best choices in that landscape. There's some folks that are just trying to get by, you know, they're just trying to feed their family and survive, and maybe money is tight, you know, so they're they are buying all the shit in the middle of the store that like a healthy person knows that they should probably avoid.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Hey, look, I get it. I lived off the Wendy's dollar menu as a college kid. Yeah. Junior bacon cheeseburger. Like that was my go-to. But yeah, I mean, it's it's it's tough. It's tough to eat healthy. It's the most expensive. Look at places like Whole Foods and things like that, where it's traditionally healthier per se, for the most part, but it's an expensive store to shop at.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

It is. So it really is. We're we're trying to get, I needed to fine-tune my garage a little bit, but I want to get a chest freezer so that I can just start buying beef, go find a ranch, you know, do do some research, find out what ranch is doing it, you know, the best way possible. Yeah. Try to hit farmers' markets a little more. But it takes a ton of time, ton of money and and effort, you know. Where you can just go to the grocery store real quick and grab some shit and wham-bam.

SPEAKER_00 59:28

You just don't know what's you're getting, though. Right. You don't know what they've sprayed on these things to make them the size that they are, yeah. Or what kind of machinery they've pumped them through, the new outbreak that's causing stomach issues and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Like diarrhea lettuce.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

Yeah. Yeah. Sure, diarrhea lettuce, or they don't know where it's coming from. They do, they refuse to identify it. Who knows where that's all going. So yeah, that's the tough part. My wife's kind of like anti-germ when it comes to that kind of stuff. So it's almost like we've cut a majority of vegetables out of our diet in the last like month. It's a significant shift, and she likes to eat healthy. So that's been really difficult.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Yeah. So it's tough, man. I mean, I think I was reading a breakdown at one point in time that pretty much every American, I don't know what the levels are or whatever, so we'd have to look it up, but everyone has glyphosate in their body, which is the fucking weed killer and roundup. This is sprayed sure all over everything. And then all those for fertilizers and shit, and then that runs into the river and then fucks these rivers up and kills all the fish and causes algae blooms. It just seems silly. I'm like, we there's gotta be better ways.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:54

I grew up around that. I grew up mostly in South Florida, and where my family house was on a canal, and I saw the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons on a regular basis. It was disgusting. The algae, like I fell on that thing so many times, too. I I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have cancer at some point. So we're we're fucked, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

Like, how many MREs have you eaten? How many bottles of water that were baking in the sun out in the desert that was just leaching forever chemicals?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

The best was the milk containers that you had in the ISUs that had been in the heat for months and months and months, and it's like throw it into the cooler and then drink it after it gets cold.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Yeah, we're screwed.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Hopefully, the AI can figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

I actually think it's the opposite. The military has pumped me with so many vaccines and drugs and stuff. I think I'm literally immune to everything. Yeah, yeah.